


Sunflower

by icedcoffeebro



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Handholding, M/M, Teenage Sweethearts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-25 04:00:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22029625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icedcoffeebro/pseuds/icedcoffeebro
Summary: Rafael bumps into Sonny before they have to board a plane for six hours.High school meet cute
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 43
Collections: Barisi Holiday Exchange 2019





	Sunflower

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LoveMeSomeRafael](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveMeSomeRafael/gifts).



> Happy holidays! I’ve been working on this since june.

“Are you sure you have enough boxers, mijito?” his mom asks him before planting another lipstick stricken kiss on his forehead. He makes the mental note to clean himself up before he meets with the rest of the kids. 

“Yes mom, I am,” she holds him in a tight hug. 

“Ay, mi niño. You’re finally on your way to become more like Alex,” she says, whipping a tear off her eye. Rafael rolls his eyes. 

“Mami, who won the scholarship for the Bronx Borough to go to Washington? Me or Alex?” Rafael says as he grabs his bag. Lucía just strokes his cheek. 

“I’ll miss you,” she kisses his forehead again. 

“Okay, okay,” he says as he frees himself from her grip. 

“Make friends!” he regards her with two fingers as a “gotchu” as he heads to Starbucks. 

It’s Rafael’s first time flying, and he’s doing it alone. But he’s always had to hold his own. Between doing the most to avoid his father (who didn’t even bother showing up) and his mother never being home, he has learned to navigate life on his own. 

He reaches a Starbucks to fulfill his caffeine addiction, mentally preparing his overly complicated Starbucks order. Venti White Mocha, Cold, 3 ice cubes, 3 pumps, and whipped cream with chocolate chips. He’s a nightmare. 

He grabs his coffee and heads to the reunion point. Some screaming can be heard at the distance. He tries his best to ignore it. But it’s damn near impossible to ignore Staten Island accents screaming.

“Sonny, you’ll be late!” a girl with an awful hair do shrieks, Rafael frowns and continues walking. 

Then a guy trips over him, and next thing he knows, his coffee is on the floor. He doesn’t react first, then he pinches his nose bridge and turns to look at the guy. He’s tall. And has an awful half assed puberty mustache. Rafael sighs. 

“You’re buying me a new one,” Rafael says, point blank. 

The guy blinks several times, then relaxes his shoulders, “I’m kinda late,”

“Well, so am I,” Rafael crosses his arms. Then what Rafael can only assume is the guy’s family runs up to him. God, Rafael feels a sour taste on his mouth just from staring at them. 

“Jesus, Sonny,” the mom says, seeing the spilled drink, “you’re getting him a new one,”

“But mom, we’re going late!” Sonny can’t seem to ever stop moving some part of him. First, it was his eyes. Now it’s his hands. 

“Where are you going?” the woman says.

“Uh,” Rafael says, “Seattle, Model UN...”

“So is Sonny!” the youngest girl says. Rafael dramatically makes a motion as if the scream hurt his ear. 

“Really?” Rafael asks, Sonny nods, “Then you can get me one there,” he walks away, “oh, and sit next to me,” Sonny looks at him, confused, “as a guarantee,” Sonny nods, unconvinced, Rafael points at himself, “future lawyer,” he shrugs and goes with the group.

He grins as he rolls his luggage, heading for the reunion point. 

***

Once he gets there, it doesn’t take long for “Sonny” to arrive. He avoids his look. 

“Okay,” the chaperone begins, “is it anyone’s first time flying?” Rafael bites his lower lip. He slowly raises his hand. There’s a few chuckles from the rest of the kids, _Manhattan and Brooklyn_ , Rafael assumes. He scoffs out a breath. 

“Leave him alone,” Sonny says quietly. Rafael stares at him in surprise.

“It’ll be okay, Bronx,” the chaperone says, and they head out to check in their luggage. 

Rafael mouths a thank you as he passes next to Sonny, Sonny shrugs with ease and offers him a kind smile. Rafael can’t help but return said smile. No teeth, since he has what he considers terrible teeth, but the common-folk would agree that Rafael only needed some braces. Not like he could ask his mom to pay for them, though. 

The chaperone guides them towards customs. And Rafael can feel panic rising inside of him. He has the irrational fear one day all Cuban citizens will be deported.

Maybe he spends too much time with Abuelita. 

He closes his eyes and tries to look as inconspicuous as ever. But what does that mean for someone like him, really?

He had read all about the control security implemented after 9/11, but he never expected it to feel so surreal. He takes deep breaths to avoid passing out. He’s scared he’ll wake up in La Havana if he does. 

When they leave the whole ordeal, Rafael lets out a sigh of relief.

***

Boarding the plane turns out to be more stressful than what Rafael originally anticipated. 

He’s clutching his boarding pass, distracting himself on what places he’ll visit once he’s a lawyer. 

Maybe one day he’d even visit Cuba.

One can dream.

When he gets to his seat, which is a nightmare in and on itself with the narrow hallway, he lets out a big exhale. 

Then the damn blond boy reappears, sitting next to him without uttering a word.

“I was kidding,” Rafael says, his eyes closed, holding on the armrest for dear life. 

“You’re nervous,” Sonny simply says, “can I distract you?”

Rafael looks at him, “Where did you come from?” he stares at his legs uncomfortably tangled on the leg space. 

“Staten Island,” Sonny simply says, shrugging, clearly missing Raf’s real question, “you?”

He waits for a moments to confirm he’s not joking, and he’s not, “The Bronx,” he makes sure there’s no quiver on his voice, too many comments from preppie rich kids having affected the way he goes on about being from _El Barrio_.

“Cool,” Sonny says nonchalantly, untangling his earbuds.

The prospect of being 38,000 feet in the air, left alone with his thoughts terrifies Rafael. He wants to stop Sonny from using his earbuds, but that’s a weird request for a guy you guilted into sitting next to you.

He feels panic rising inside him. He already had had several nightmares about the worst case scenarios occurring; the plane crashes, emergency landing, being next to a crying toddler. Everything had crossed his mind, and now he was facing the reality and it feels worse than any nightmare, even if nothing had happened.

“Wanna listen to some music?” Sonny offers his right ear earbud to him.

“Huh?” Rafael says, unsure if he heard right.

“Don’t they have that in the Bronx?” Sonny lightly teases, Rafael rolls his eyes and grabs the earbud. “This is my favorite song,”

Rafael bobs his head with the music, “What is it?” he asks.

“Sunflower, by Post Malone,” Sonny says with a smile, “you never watched Into the Spider-verse?”

Raf shrugs, “We’re too poor for the movies,” he smiles sadly.

Sonny doesn’t react to this comment, which Rafael appreciates, “Well, movies on this flight are included with the ticket,” Sonny says, “we can watch one together.”

Rafael stares in awe at this wonderful, weird tall guy, “Why are you being so friendly with me?” he asks, suspicious.

Sonny rolls his eyes, “You’ll make a great lawyer, you ask too many damn questions,” he says, “I’m being nice to you because that’s who I am, if you want me to be hostile and leave you alone, I can do that too.”

“No, no,” Rafael says, “it’s… nice to make a friend, I don’t have many,” 

“Do you tell all your potential friends you’re a future lawyer?” Sonny asks, turning to him, “Maybe that’s the key, nobody can resist the prospect of a future rich friend,”

Rafael snorts, “You think I’ll be a corporate or defense lawyer,” 

“You won’t?” Sonny asks, and Rafael can tell he’s genuinely interested.

“I’m gonna be a prosecutor,” he says, his chest puffed out. 

They’ve been ignoring the music playing on their earbuds. Too engrossed on talking with each other, a voice comes from the plane speakers, “Everyone, please take off your headphones and prepare for take off, turn your phones to Airplane mode, the crew will now walk you through the security measures,” Rafael tenses up again, and Sonny reaches out for his hand, something that deeply confuses Rafael, but he accepts it, letting the sweet embrace calm down his nerves. 

The crew begins explaining the security measures, and first time flier Rafael makes a mental note out of each and everyone of the rules. When they finish, Sonny’s hand is still on his. 

The plane begins moving, and Rafael grips Sonny’s hand tightly, Sonny doesn’t seem to mind, he gets closer to Rafael and whispers, “Trust me, after this, it’s all chill,” he says, and winks at Rafael. Is this guy always this confident? Or only when he’s around less privileged kids? Rafael needs to shake this notion that he’s less than Sonny, they’re both here on their own merit. But when something is constantly repeated to you, it’s hard to let go. 

They go through the rest of the take off without muttering another word, and it’s only when they announce they’ve reached prime height that Rafael relaxes, letting go of Sonny’s hand, he turns to look at it, and immediately blushes. He gripped Sonny’s hand so tight, he left nail marks all over, and Sonny did nothing about it, not even a face or a grunt of disapproval, “God I’m sorry,” he says, pointing at Sonny’s hand, Sonny just chuckles and does a dismissive hand gesture. 

“‘Snothing, Rafael,” the way Sonny pronounces his name makes Rafael want to laugh out of instinct, it’s just so… American. It’s everything but charming, and yet, Rafael feels himself transfixed by it. “If you still wanna hold on to my hand, you’re more than welcome to,” Sonny says, a lopsided grin on his lips, “we can watch a movie together,” he presses on the screen in front of him, and after some clicking, he connects his earbuds, once again offering one to Rafael, and upon him taking it, he removes the armrest from between them, “dreadful thing, isn’t it so?” he says, and Rafael chuckles at the way he says this, “it’s time you get introduced to the best piece of animation of the century,” Sonny says solemnly, the screen shows the poster for _Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse_ , Rafael smiles.

“Expert, aren’t you?” he teases.

“I take my cartoon knowledge very seriously, Rafael,” he says, a serious look on his face, but a clear shadow of laughter looming, “that’s something you need to understand if we’re going to be bound together for the next…” he checks on the screen, “6 hours,” he tilts his head, a goofy smile showcasing his colorful braces. 

“We just met, yet you treat me like one of your friends,” Rafael blurts out, an eyebrow perked up, his cynicism taking over. 

Sonny shrugs, “I’m always open to new friendships,” he smiles again, “and you seem really nice, so I’d like to be your friend, even if it’s just for the duration of this trip,” he clicks on the screen, so the movie commences, “if that’s what you want, of course,” 

Rafael smiles, the logo for Columbia pictures distorting on the screen, “I’ll consider it,” he says. And he rests his head on Sonny’s shoulder as if it was nothing. 

They watch the movie. Rafael feels himself entranced by it, which is odd, since he doesn’t particularly like superhero movies. But it’s so touching, so real. And Raf hasn’t seen many latino teen characters painted in a positive light, and Miles Morales is a hero. Some tears escape him. 

When the movie is over, he clears his eyes off tears with the heel of his hand. Sonny either didn’t notice how much the movie touched him, or he made the conscious decision to not comment on it; whatever it was, Rafael was thankful.

“Wanna watch something else?” Sonny asks, already scrolling through the catalogue. 

Rafael looks at the dark sky passing through the windows.

“I think I wanna nap,” he smiles at Sonny, “we’ll still have a few hours left to do whatever when I wake up,” he says. Sonny smiles at him. 

“I’ll nap too then,” he squeezes his hand and offers his shoulder to Rafael. He rests his head there and Sonny rests his head on top. 

He’s never felt this way with anyone. And they’ve only just met. 

After two hours, Rafael wakes. Sonny is already up, and he seems to be reading something. 

“What are you reading?” Rafael asks. Sonny seems startled. 

“Uh,” he shows him— it’s his papers for the MUN. Rafael raises an eyebrow. 

“Nervous?”

“It’s— it’s my first MUN outside of my school so,” he shuffles through the papers, “yeah, a bit,”

Rafael nods, “Tell you what, you can practice with me— I’m kinda a pro at this,” 

“Really?” Sonny’s entire face lights up, “Rafael, that’d mean so much,”

Sonny gives him his opening statement, and Rafael feels he can see the shadow of the lawyer Sonny could become. 

“Have you ever thought about being a lawyer?” Rafael poses as Sonny finishes. 

“What makes you say that? Want to be my lawyer husband?” Sonny says, his cheeks a deep red. 

Rafael is taken aback, “Wh—“ 

“Rafael, it’s okay,” he holds his hand, “You can be yourself around me,” 

Rafael relaxes and leans to Sonny’s touch. 

They spend the rest of the flight like this, talking about everything and nothing at once. When the plane starts landing, Rafael squeezes Sonny’s hand. 

As they get off the plane, Sonny taps Rafael’s shoulder. Rafael turns. 

“You still want that Starbucks?” Sonny says. 

“Of course.” Rafael says, a smile on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> soooo am i back? idk. i havent seen the show in a while and i kinda had a fall out, but ill try to at least wrap up my WIPs. i love barisi.


End file.
